Repost from Facebook (Ears: '08 Edition)

Seeing as McHip gave a pretty thorough musical round up for this year (save for some Deerhunter love), I'll stick to my personal favorites. Starting at the top:

1. 808s and Heartbreak by Kanye West. a.k.a. "My Favorite Album"

If you get past the first two sluggish - but still strong - tracks, the middle portion of 808s is quite beautiful. Filled with all the contradictions one feels directly after a break up (sometimes within the same song - "Love Lockdown"), Mr. West stumbles through the immediate aftermath with very little reflection or perspective. Its a flawed and simple record that despite the use of the generally reviled Auto-Tune and phony sounding drum machine, the Roland TR-808, is one the most honest and unique albums to come out this year.

Favorite Moment: The background vocals falling into the mix moments before the second chorus kicks in on "Street Lights."

2. Dear Science, by T.V. on the Radio. a.k.a. "Best Album"

The best band of the decade? I don't know. They're damn good though. From the opening "bop bop"'s of "Halfway Home" to the rapping on "Dancing Choose" to the ballad of "Family Tree" and Kyp Malone's falsetto on "Crying", these guys are incredible doing anything. Lead singer Tunde Adebimpe was even in Jonathon Demme's Rachel Getting Married! That's talent!

Favorite Moment: The "bop"-ing.

3. Fate by Dr. Dog. a.k.a. "Best Throwback Album"

There's some Beatles and some Beach Boys and I guess some Van Morrison, too, in these guys. Early R&B maybe? Psychedelic Folk-Pop? Anyways. I listened to this a lot so on here it goes.

Favorite Moment: From "Army of Ancients": I don't want to wake up / I don't want to move / I'll skip the sermon / and stick to the booze / I'M SORRY!

4. Stay Positive by The Hold Steady. a.k.a. "Best Drunk-Rock Album"

A summer album to beat all others. Reminds me of driving to San Jose with friends, drinking, smoking and that junkie girl I fell in love with. ... wait, that last memory's not mine ... HA! *Cue Slash-like solo*

Favorite Moment: The Joe Strummer reference on "Constructive Summer"

5. Some Racing, Some Stopping by Headlights. a.k.a. "Best Nice Indie-Pop Album"

Simple, cute, pop. Probably considered boring by most. One of four albums i had on my mp3 player after my Polish brothers stole my shit on spring break. Woohoo!

Favorite Moment: "Market Girl"

Though i could think of about a dozen "better" albums these are the ones I've most enjoyed and become most familiar with over the past year. Throwing some love towards tracks who's albums i'm less familiar with ...

Best Use of Falsetto

• "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit
  Anxiously awaiting an LP.


• "Highly Suspicious" by My Morning Jacket
  Why this was not the biggest dance track of the year will always remain a mystery to me.


• "Flume" by Bon Iver
  His momma loves him, as does mine.

Best Tracks to Dance/Shake Uncontrollably To

• "Teen Creeps" by No Age
  Best moshpit i've ever experienced at an LA concert.


• "Brainwave" by Nomo
  Weird blips and beeps make groove time fun!

Indie-ness

• "Sentimental Heart" by She & Him
  Aaawww. I (Heart) Zooey Deschanel


• "Acid Tongue" by Jenny Lewis
  Cute and sad. With nice backing vocals.


• "Winter" by The Dodos
  "My friends they understand me better but they don't whisper 'good night' / I want a lover and a sister but we know that's not right". This whole album is actually really good. Here's a live performance of "Fools."

Marvelous Bittersweet Beauties

• "The Trees Were Mistaken" by Andrew Bird
  The more Bird collaborates with Dosh the better.


• "In The New Year" by The Walkmen
  Despite his Dylan-lite stylings this is quite the optimistic heartbreaker. '09, "It's gonna be a good year". Let's all cross our fingers.

Why 2009 Will Undoubtedly Be A GREAT Year for Music
Tracks that have leaked from upcoming releases. These have made my ears and heart all warm and fuzzy during this depressingly cold (by SoCal standards) closing '08 months.

• "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" and "Anonanimal" by Andrew Bird
  Two high points (with the obvious Dosh influence) in an otherwise disappointing yet pleasant new album. I wanted a vicious machine but got instead a Noble Beast. But its still Andrew Bird so i like it.


• "Daylight" and "Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare" by Matt and Kim
  I'm wondering what Dan and Philly crew think of these. Much more poppy. And i love pop. So i am happy. Already my soundtrack to summer '09.


• "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear
  From a performance on Letterman. Amazing, direct pop. It makes me bounce!


• "My Girls" and "Brothersport" by Animal Collective
  My favorite thing about Animal Collective is when they cut through silly nonsense about "femurs sitting in my cherry dream" ("Grass") and "birthin" ("Fireworks") and instead express simple beautiful sentiments like "Would you like to see me often / though you don't need to see me often?" ("Grass") and "You're only what i see sometimes" ("Fireworks"). "My Girls" is currently my favorite track of '09 with the bouncing refrain "I don't mean / to seem like i care about material things / like the social stats / i just want / four walls and adobe slabs / for my girls."

Blah, blah, blah. If you've gotten this far in the note ... you really need some direction in your life.

Missing You,
-daren